Discoveries

It's always amazing to discover something that's old especially when you feel as if this special thing is brand new.
This happens with books, music, and yes, even knitting patterns.
(Although to date I've yet to knit a Clapotis, and that is so 10 years ago, yet new-ish to me still because I've never made one.)
There has been a lot of music that I've discovered long after an artist has been around, but even though I feel a bit behind the power curve, I still enjoy it because quite frankly it may bring me pleasure.
Often it seems as if something is discovered in an almost serendipitous way, as if the entire world is colluding to ensure you (or me, or whomever) finds that special book, or music, or whatever.
I could say that this special place of honor in my life belongs to Cookie Butter:

And I'd have to tell you that this is the truth.
Cookie butter is beyond delicious, and sinfully bad for you.
Funny story - I was in Trader Joe's buying some, and the girl who was checking out my groceries said:
"Oh, I am addicted to this Cookie Butter."
"Really?" I said.
"Yeah, it's so good."
Wondering just what I was going to eat it on (although I'd had it on a hot wafel at the Public Market - now there's a story for another time), I asked her, "What did you eat it on?"
With no irony, she replied, "On a spoon."
Now that was a fabulously enlightening conversation.
But this one is not about cookie butter (but if you love yourself, and are not diabetic, eat some).
It is about a certain Flapper who solves mysteries in Australia, otherwise known as Phryne (that's Fry-knee) Fisher.
In November, I was reading reviews on Audible about the latest book by Kerry Greenwood who writes the Phryne Fisher series. As I had never heard of this series before, I thought, gosh, there are a lot of people gushing about these books, I'll have to check it out.
Over to Amazon I surfed, and surprise, surprise, the first book in the series, Cocaine Blues, was free!
If you hurry over, it might still be.
Then just a few weeks ago my friend Mel from Australia, who loves vintage clothing, posted a picture of a still from a television series filmed down under.
Want to guess what it was?
You got it - Phryne Fisher masquerading now as Miss Fisher (apparently she's only Phryne if you're nasty)!
Tonight, being curious, and having finished the first book in the series and knowing there was a TV show that I couldn't watch, I went to imdb and checked the page out of general curiosity.
Lo and behold, on imdb someone posted information about Acorn TV.
I knew about the catalog - I've received it in the past, but the prices were just a bit too high for me.
Did you know, however, that they offer an online service (free two-week trial!) and one of the series they are showing this month is...you got it - Miss Fisher!
That's our girl.
So let's recap our discoveries:

1. Cookie butter is sinfully good and best served on a spoon
2. Not all free books from Amazon are crap
3. You can now mainline your Brit TV

Please be sure to make these discoveries your own. I am merely here to facilitate.

Catching Up

I have a confession.
I've never watched any more than two episodes of "Downton Abbey" until yesterday evening when I watched the first episode of season three.
Was it difficult to know what was going on?
Not particularly, but it did make me want to go back and finish watching the first two seasons.
I had thought that I would over our winter shutdown, but I got wrapped up in other TV, and didn't get around to watching Downton.
(I do know, however, that I don't like Lady Mary, and I do like the exchanges between Shirley Maclaine and any Brit within firing range, most especially Maggie Smith.)
Or Doc Martin - I've left off where my husband and I stopped watching before he went on vacation.
It seemed like a show that we were watching together, and since it's a progressive script, I didn't want to get too far ahead.
(If anyone's interested, we've left off on the wedding episode.)
Perhaps we'll get a blizzard, or hubby and I will seriously consider early retirement in South America (where every Thursday from 10 am until mid-day the needlework group meets - no Red Hat society for me, though, count me out) and then it will be Netflix all day, all the time.
I still have to catch up with my knitting for the Mystery KAL, but I know that I've got all week to do that, and as Jennifer said, it's too hard to watch and pay attention to the pattern, so it's easier to just sit and watch (that's totally paraphrasing what she said, but you get the drift).
Something else I need to catch up on is a new yarn company.
Perhaps some of you have heard of it, but it's new to me.
Willow Yarns.
Anyone?
I just received a catalog in the mail today.
They seem to be reasonably priced, and the yarns are nice enough and mostly natural fibers.
I looked on Ravelry and there's only one yarn listed, and no projects yet.
Is it really this brand new?
Their fingering weight yarn, Stream, is only $4.99 a ball, and is made of wool and silk.

Should we consider this a serious rival to KnitPicks?
I think so.
And to close this out with a laugh, check out this Tumblr account - Edith with Googly Eyes.
Too funny.
We are amused.

Sitting Down for Downton

Today begins the first day of the Downton Abbey Mystery KAL.
Are you a fan?

I like the show, but I have to admit that I haven't watched the entire series, but I do so love a beautiful, one of a kind yarn.
That's what I have - straight from Jimmy Beans Wool - Lorna's Laces sportmate in the Downton Abbey colorway:

Pretty, isn't it?
I should really take my own picture because of course it's a bit different.
There's still time to get involved in the KAL - just go to the Jimmy Beans Wool blog and you'll find links on there with instructions.
Now even though I haven't watched enough of the show this was something I intended to do over the Christmas break, but along with cleaning, decluttering, and exercising, watching the two seasons of the show were things that didn't get accomplished. Think it will make a difference?
I hope not.
Which is why I felt okay taking this little quiz that tells you which Downton Abbey character you are.
Guess who I am.
A maid.
To be precise:

You are Anna Smith, head housemaid of Downton. You are basically the best employee ever. Competent, practical and tough, you can handle anything life throws at you - whether it’s rude colleagues, secretive romantic partners or surprise dead bodies in the workplace. Your kindness and loyalty are to be admired, and that Bates fellow should really recognize what a catch you are.

Go figure.
Introverted me, working quietly for the people, and not the one living in luxury.
Bah.
It's time to start knitting.

Some things just make me so angry that I could spit

Well really.
When hubby and I (and of course the kids) lived in Europe for four years (London and Germany) we became completely addicted to EastEnders.
We started watching it while staying in The Tudor Lodge where we lived for about two months.
It was nice, but what a culture shock.
This was 1992, so I remember it was odd watching the summer Olympics from the viewpoint of another country.
The sportscasters kept cheering for the British athletes, and we would get all excited during an event, and then think, "Wait, where are the Americans."
The power of the media, eh.
So with small kids (they were 7, 5, and 1 respectively), we spent evenings in getting them to bed.
And that's when the BBC magic happened.
Hubby and I soon took to watching EastEnders.
We absolutely loved the explosive relationships between Phil, Grant and Sharon, and loved how Michelle couldn't stand Grant (and then got pregnant by him!). Oh and greedy Ian, and conniving Cindy, and all those wonderfully larger than life, filled with drama characters.
Great stuff.
What was even cooler was that Sharon's father - well, not the character, but Letitia Dean, the woman who plays Sharon - her father was a tailor who worked in the Exchange down at the Naval Headquarters in London. We would shop there, and see him, and think, "Gol, that's Sharon's dad!"
It was very much a "squee!" kind of situation.
(Hubby did see Robbie one time in a London club when he went back for a site visit, but we never did see anyone else. Darn work always gets in the way of fun, doesn't it?)
When we finally moved back to the States, we were abruptly weaned off of EastEnders.
What a shock.
I still get the shakes just thinking about it.
This was during the early days of the internet too, so even though we picked up AOL in 1996 (along with the rest of the country), and we could read what was going on with our favorite favourite characters, it just wasn't the same.
YouTube hadn't been invented yet.
Imagine that.
Finally, our friend Nick, who we had been stationed with overseas, moved from NC to Virginia Beach, and his PBS station was airing EastEnders.
Score!
Nick would send us copies of the show after he'd watched it, and since his wife was a Brit, she loved the show too.
Not that being British means you have to love the show - I know that there are those who don't, but really, this is a very popular British show.
Then Nick's PBS station did the unthinkable -- they declared EastEnders too expensive, and stopped showing it.
Denied yet again!
It was awful. We had to wean ourselves all over again.
I understand that this is an expensive show - it is on three times a week, has a slew of characters, and I'm sure the popularity has driven up costs, but come on America, this is good stuff!
When I interviewed for a job as an EA at our local PBS station, during the interview I told the boss that I thought they should be airing EastEnders.
He gave me the old song and dance, and said, "Yadda, yadda, yadda, too expensive, blah, blah, blah."
Well they've never picked up EastEnders, and I didn't get the job either.
So here we've had about 10 years without EastEnders, and I'm managing my addiction rather well.
That is until I see this news:
Sharon is coming back.
Oh yes, the bitch is back one more time, and I'm so upset that I have to miss it.
Know of anyone who is hiring in England?
I could be ready to move...um, well, right away!
There's a drink waiting for me at the Queen Vic.
While I'm waiting for you to work out details of my future employment, here's some vintage EastEnders - Grant discovering his wife's affair with his brother.
Explosive - just like I said!!

January Hats

Behold, my pile of January hats.

Thus called because they were crafted in the month of January.

 

Truth be told, they weren't all made this month.

At least two were knitted in December.

And yet here they sit waiting to be finished in January.

So in my own weird logic world, they are still being "made" in January.

Okay, I'm going with that.

One is for my mother, as I had bought some yarn for her in the spring to make her two hats.

Then I promptly misplaced the yarn.

If you could see my yarn room you'd understand.

Then magically I found a skein, and even though it was blue, and I don't think she picked a blue, but one charcoal and one brown or something like that, I made her a blue hat anyway.

Using, of course, one of my all-time favorite patterns, the Button Tab Hat.

Last night I sat at the table (still watching Netflix, and working my way through the show Kingdom), and I thought, "I really need to get these hats finished. Sure they look awesome, and I feel accomplished to have a stack of hats sitting on the table in my yarn room, but wouldn't they be better served by being finished?"

I had convinced myself.

Now one hat is for a gift, and one was supposed to be a Christmas gift, one is for hubby, and the other for the baby boy (who I call my baby boy even though he will be 21 in April), and then the one for my mother.

So I finished the gift hat, finished weaving in the ends for the baby boy's hat, and wove in the ends for the hubby hat, who promptly put it on his head and then went right out to shovel snow at 9:00 at night.

Wearing the red hat.

Oh yeah, remember that hat?

Yeah, he's claiming it, and I'm cool with that.

So once I got the three hats done, I was down to two (look at me - doing math!) - the Christmas gift, and my mother's blue hat.

Yeah, a Christmas gift.

Since the recipient is only three and not expecting the hat, I think anytime will work so she's in no hurry.

Then I looked at my mother's hat.

By then it was 9:30, and I was tired.

I almost left it, but then I thought, "Dang, tomorrow's her birthday. You have to give her something!"

I finished the hat.

She's getting a hat for her birthday, and not in a color of her choosing, but I know she'll make it work.

Mothers always do.

And soon it will be February, and I will move on to something else.

But hopefully I'll have "finished" all of my hats.

And how long ago was this?

I remember the night that Welcome Back Kotter premiered on television.
Know why?
Because it was my birthday.
My 12th one to be exact, and for that birthday I was given the great present - every year actually until they started screwing up television seasons - of a brand new TV show(s) happening right on or around my birthday.
Remember when you could count on going back to school and also getting those huge September issues of TV Guide that would describe all the new and returning shows?
Now everything's so mixed up throughout the year that I usually end up waiting to watch a show on Netflix about three years after it's been cancelled.
I sure miss the agrarian-based system of television. You know, keep the summers free for farming (show repeats), and we'll premiere the new shows when the crops are in.
But September 1975 - it was a clear evening, and after my birthday dinner and some cake, I was hanging outside with a couple of friends talking about the new show that was coming on that night.
It was a school night - a Monday to be exact.
I was wearing green pants.
I think.
And if I wasn't I will have been - that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Enough of the details.
Suffice it to say that we were all pretty excited for "Welcome Back Kotter".
Life was pretty exciting in my town - still is.
It's a hot time in our town, etc., etc.
But from the first I was hooked.
I still love that show even though it's now thirty something years later (stop trying to do the math, I'm old, okay?).
Even after watching it recently (thank you again, Netflix, now quit raising your prices) I was immediately drawn right back to that first viewing and the palpable magic of being there as witness to the birth of a hit show.
Sure it's a little dated, but it's easy to get hooked again, and it had such a great storyline with such memorable characters.
Even my kids have watched it and thought it was a great show, and they're the YouTube generation! Nothing shocks them!
Now which Sweathog was my favorite?
Hard to say, they were all rather quotable, but surely Epstein, or at least his "mother", were memorable.
But who didn't want to be a sweat hog, right?
They were so dang cool.
And for that matter, who knew any Puerto Rican Jews? There certainly weren't any in my hometown.
I'm happy to say, however, that in my world travels I have acquired two gentleman friends who are indeed Puerto Rican and Jewish.
Yes, we have made the Epstein reference in conversation.
It's obligatory.
Sadly, Epstein's mother has written her last note, as Robert Hegyes, the actor who played Epstein, has gone to the big classroom in the sky.
Here's a little bit of the magic that was revealed to the world in 1975.
That was a long time ago, but it seems like yesterday.
Enjoy and remember. Or discover!

A New Way to Be Called Old

I was talking to my oldest daughter the other day, and telling her how much I've been enjoying watching the show Hot in Cleveland.
Another time when you know the internet is such an awesome thing.
All the episodes are available on the TVLand Website.
It really is funny, and one of the best things about it is that all three women (minus Betty White) are brunettes!
Yea for brunettes!
(No offense to the blondes out there, but come on.)

So here's how our conversation went:

Me: This show is so great. It's funny, and refreshing.
Her: Meh. That show annoys me.
Me: What?!? It's a really good show, how can you not like it.
Her: Well it's for your demographic.

Ouch.
Could I be any older?
To her, I guess not.

Not new music, but relatively new to me

Too good not to share:



Lovely.

And just to provide some variety, here's her cover of a Kinks song:



For the record, this song, "Village Green Preservation Society" is the theme song for the British tv show "Clatterford" known in England as "Jam and Jerusalem" which leads me to three questions that remain unanswerable, but I'll ask them anyway:

1) why does the name always have to be changed (or dumbed down) for Americans, i.e., Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone became the Sorcerer's Stone

2) why is British tv so much better than American tv

3) why does American tv always have to remake a British show only to see it fail miserably nine times out of ten (the only success being "The Office")

And here we are on Binary Day

I write that title like I'm some kind of computer whiz.
I'm not.
My son actually told me that it is Binary Day - you know, 01/01/11 - because I'm not smart enough to realize that.
Unfortunately I didn't finish my goal yesterday of knitting those socks, but I have a great excuse.
Honestly.
I made a batch of 16 Bean Soup, and then canned 8 pint jars.
Plus we took my mother out for dinner, and then I fell asleep in the chair from 9-11:00, and was awakened so I could be alert when the new year came in.
I didn't get much done on my socks today either, as the puppy woke me up at 5:00, and then after cleaning the kitchen I made a batch of Split Pea Soup and canned that as well.
Love, love, love my pressure canner.
So this evening while watching - I hate to admit this - the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (I know! shoot me!), I picked up my first sock and am past the gusset and working on the foot.
Now I'm heading back upstairs to work on it again.
Good night, y'all, and hope you have a wonderful new year!

A New Addiction

DN1 has lost all respect for me.
This morning I told her about my new addiction, and she said, "That's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard you say."
What's the addiction?
I've been reading about it for a few weeks, but I just discovered it last night on an On-Demand channel:
I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here
Yes, I know, I'm hanging my head in shame, but WOW, what train wrecks they have on this show!
Now, some of the people are actually pretty decent, and that is what I find interesting to watch: the group dynamic and the rainforest location really bring out a person's true character.
I stayed up until midnight last night watching this show, and this morning I stood in my room to curl my hair so I could watch episode three.
Hey! I have to catch up!
If you can't stomach watching the show, then just check out this puppet parody.
This is pretty much episodes one and two:

It's obvious isn't it?
I have no shame.
I'll go back to my corner now and try to make better television choices in the future.
And don't judge me too harshly; I'm sure you've all made bad viewing choices before.

Numb3rs Progeny on National Spelling Bee

Does anyone watch Numb3rs?
I do, every week.
Well, now it's in reruns, so maybe not now, but even still
You know about Charlie and Amita?

SPOILER ALERT

How in the last episode he asked her to marry him?

END SPOILER ALERT

Well the other night DN2 and I were watching last year's spelling bee, and this kid came on.
I was immediately struck by something.
Imagine if Charlie and Amita actually had a baby.
Charlie:







plus Amita









equals Sidharth Chand:


Awesome - although this kid is not acting "smart" - he really is.

I thought I had raised her better

Guess what show DN2 is in love with.
Go ahead, guess.
Well, let me set some parameters.
She's 10 and she loves babies and little kids.
Now, go ahead, which show do you think it is?
If you guessed that train wreck known as Jon & Kate Plus 8, then you guessed correctly.
She's totally into this marathon on TLC this weekend.
I asked her, how can you watch this show?
These people are totally fame whores, getting freebies just by virtue of having a passel of children pop out of her womb, and earning tons of money per episode by pimping out their kids.
She said, I don't like it for the parents, I like it for the kids.
Well alright then.
That's different.
Still, I thought she had better taste than this.
(Besides, if you want to see a crazy mother, just come hang around me.)

...but there's always time for TV

In my haus there has been: not much knitting, quite a bit of reading, no cleaning, but as the title reads, there's always time for TV.
Some of our latest favorite shows:

Sonny With a Chance - actually a very well-written show, the characters can be annoying at times, but they're teenagers (or portraying one). Check it out.

Big Bang Theory - It doesn't get much better when Sheldon takes on Penny in a mental and verbal wrestling match. Tawni on the aforementioned show was TOTALLY wearing a "Penny Blossom" on Sunday's show. Still love Chuck Lorre's writing -- I hope he can sustain it.

Flight of the Conchords - I've enjoyed this duo since their first quirky episode. The show is so random, how could you not love it. And the season finale already???

And for the piece de resistance (why can't blogger do accents?).
The newest "leaked" Tori Amos song from her upcoming album:



Sounds like we'll be heading to a concert soon!

Goodbye Pauline

I'm heartbroken.
One of my favorite characters from EastEnders has died of cancer.
In real life, not just on the show.
Wendy Richard died last week of cancer.
She played Pauline Fowler on the show.
If you've never watched EastEnders, and I haven't in years, and I miss it so, you may remember her from the classic British sitcom Are You Being Served.
When we moved to London back in the early 90s, DH and I got hooked on EastEnders, and my primary memory of Pauline is of her stridently saying, "We're faaam-ly!"
Love that Pauline.
Here's her final scene from EastEnders:



Heartbreaking.

Psych

Wow, I would be posting a long entry with plenty of pictures of our trip to Canada, but we're upstairs in the bedroom watching a bunch of episodes of Psych.
I do love that show, so no time to chat right now.
Must go laugh heartily with my fam.
If you haven't seen the show yet, what are you waiting for?

Thursday Quiz - Seeing is Believing

Almost six years ago we started watching a new series on Showtime that blew us away.
It was Dead Like Me (DLM).
We watched it faithfully on Sunday nights at 10:00 -- I remember the time because I was taking classes and my assignments were always due by midnight on Sunday evenings.
I would try and get the papers done before 10:00 pm so I could enjoy the show unfettered by a deadline, but invariably I would end up working until 9:59, watch the show, and then frantically finish my work in that last hour between 11:00 pm and midnight.
Boy I don't miss that, but I do miss DLM.
We own both seasons on DVD and will watch the show from time to time, but the series was abruptly cancelled after only two seasons and we longed for more.
Then we heard there was a movie in the works.
It came out on DVD yesterday, and I watched it this evening.
Did it satisfy my need to watch DLM?
To a certain extent - it had many of the same characters, and it offered them a resolution -- but I'm still not sure.
I think I will have to watch it one more time.
(But the "new" Daisy? Ick. This actress was Totally NOT Daisy.)
DLM, for those who have never seen the show, offers an idea of what happens to you and your soul once you die.
In some ways it was reassuring, because we just don't know.
This series provided you with possibilities that can not be ruled out, variations on death that seem like wonderfully benign alternatives to the scary unknown.
All the time, you are aware that this show is just the product of someone's fine imagination.
There's comfort in there, absolutely.
So, with that in mind, I thought I would do a religious quiz today to see what it says about me.
Well, and because we just celebrated the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth (hey, I think we can believe in God and evolution - for example, the nail on my pinky toe keeps shrinking day by day, soon it will be all gone), here's a little quiz:

You Are a Believer

You definitely believe in God - and you're very unwavering in your religious beliefs. In fact, religion and spirituality are definitely big parts of your life. Religion shapes how you view right and wrong, as well as the decisions you make. It's hard for you to imagine how your life would be without your beliefs.

Are You an Atheist, Agnostic or a Believer?

Of course it's like George Lass says, "We all have to go sometime."
Until tomorrow, then.

TV and socks

First up, did you see that they are delaying the date for the analog to digital switch?
The AP has an article discussing the Senate's four month delay until June 12th.
Honestly, I'm a Republican, but why would the Republicans block a switch?
I don't get it.
It's not even logical.
Ergo, it must be about money.
Truthfully, if I lost my job, the first thing to go would be cable tv, and I sure wouldn't rush out to buy a converter. We would be listening to a lot of radio to get our news.
Back to the old way - radio and newspaper.
Politicians (and I'm being non-partisan here and including all politicians) always seem to forget the little people who don't consider cable to be a necessity, or something that automatically fits into a budget.
Anyway, interesting stuff about this switch, and I don't think we'll realize the extent of the families that don't switch, regardless of the cost of the converter, until after the switch has taken place.
What's interesting about the switch is that it caused my mother to finally sign up for cable tv.
She has about 10 extra channels now, and is just as thrilled as a cat with new pajamas.
And speaking of socks...
Have you seen the latest Vogue Knitting?
There is a pair of socks in there that I would like to try.
Have you seen these?


The socks in the middle picture.
Plus I like the hat too that is pictured right next to it (although no one in my house does -- but I think Karzai's hat is a keeper too -- see a resemblance?).
(And I'd like to have the waist size of the model with the belt, thank you very much.)
What's interesting is the yarn used in the sock pattern is Patons Classic Wool, available in any major craft store, plus my local Ben Franklin.
Nice.
I've never cabled socks, so I'd be interested in trying these, plus I have this particular yarn at home already.
Double nice.
I looked up the cost of yarn for some of the big knit sweaters in this issue - one is about $190 and the other is about $220 or thereabouts.
Wow, and they're really not even overly attractive sweaters.
I would wait for them to appear on the clearance rack at JC Penney, that's how distinctive they are.
Or I would knit them with much less expensive yarn.
There is a woman I know who learned how to knit, and she and I and someone else were having a conversation about knitting. I mentioned that I like to go to Ben Franklin, just because, and she said to this amorphous other person, who asked about Ben Franklin, that she thought they have nice yarn there but their prices there are a bit high.
I can't remember the gist of the entire conversation, but I do remember being shocked.
I thought, "Really? Ben Franklin expensive? Honey, you haven't shopped for yarn if you think that store is expensive."
That's what I thought - what I did was gape at her with my mouth open and the conversation took another turn and when on to something else.
Perhaps I should show this sock pattern to her.

Thursday Quiz - TV Shows

Here's an interesting quiz, for those of you who like to watch the show NCIS.
I know I've talked about it before, because DH and I really like to watch it.
Sadly, I feel like my mother and my step-father.
"Oh honey, it's Tuesday night, NCIS is coming on."
So routinized.
Alas, what can I do, it's a good show!
(Even an Entertainment Weekly reporter discovered how good the show is!)
I like to watch the marathons on USA network as well, also because I can watch Psych on there (my new favorite show, coming out with a new episode tomorrow!).
For those in Ravelry, there are groups for tv shows - have you seen those?
I belong to several: NCIS, Psych, House, Ghost Whisperer, and Numbers.
All shows that I watch on a regular basis.
And what is surprising is that I use to limit my one hour shows to only two per week - that's all I could commit to.
Looks like I can commit to more as I get older, or else I'm happier sitting on my butt watching tv shows for at least five hours out of the week.
(And did you see they're moving House opposite The Big Bang Theory on Mondays? Seriously, that is wrong, so I will just continue to record House. Sorry.)
Anyway, I found this quiz on Ravelry in the NCIS group.
Kind of a cute quiz; check it out, this is who I am:

Which NCIS Character Are You?

More on NCIS. Created by BuddyTV

Now that's cool.
I don't mind being Ziva at all.
She can kick some tail.
Take the quiz and find out who you are.

(By the way, DH and I like to watch NCIS and find mistakes, I've said that before. This past week they found a body of a sailor who had been dead for 11 years. They pulled his ID card out of his jacket pocket to ascertain his identity. DH looked at me and said, "They weren't using those ID cards 11 years ago." He was right - it was a Common Access Card, which the Navy and Marine Corps started issuing in 2002/2003, concurrent with, or just prior to, the NMCI contract. The dead sailor should have had the old green ID card. See, this is why we like watching the show, it makes us feel smarter.)

Monday is the new Thursday

I don't watch football, and I don't watch it on Monday nights.
Personally, I don't think I could stay awake long enough to get to the end of the game.
So we watch sitcoms instead, and Monday night has a great lineup.
Remember when "must see tv" was on Thursday nights?
Well now it is Monday.
DH is in South America this week because his grandmother died and he flew down there for her funeral, so I'm recording the shows so he can watch them when he gets back. There is one show on Monday nights that I can watch again and again and never get tired of it:
The Big Bang Theory.
I watched an episode 3 times once over a 2 day period and never stopped laughing.
Have you seen it?
Sheldon, in all his nerdy OCD-ness, definitely steals the show each week.
Here is a clip from last week's episode, and even though this strategy will be quoted most often (I even do it, shame on me, and I'm not a Trekkie), this is not even the funniest moment in the show:

If you haven't seen this show yet, give it a go.
It will definitely grow on you.

Thursday Quiz - Being Canadian is Cool too

This is my 500th post.
I know I should probably celebrate it in some way, but that would be unlike me.
I'm on that road paved with good intentions heading toward the hot place, so I'll just announce it as a first line, and then give you a quiz because it is Thursday.
According to this quiz I am 65% British. Well I must be un-American because I watched the season finale of Project Runway and didn't watch the debates.
Sorry, finding out who won that contest was of more concern at that particular moment.
Did you watch the debate?
Tell me what you thought.
Do you think you're British?
Take the quiz and find out.

You Are 65% British

Congrats, mate. You're are probably British. (If not, definitely Australian. Or Kiwi. Or Canadian.) You enjoy most aspects of mainstream British culture, without being stereotypical about it. You also have a typical British temperament. You wouldn't dream of being impolite.

How British Are You?

And it's true, being Canadian is cool too.
Now I've gotta run because my tea is cooling on the counter and I need to drink it.
Cheers.
P.S. I knit in class last night. I'm working on a Christmas stocking. How brave of me, right?
(Note to self - Next time use wooden or bamboo needles to avoid the clanging of the metal needles. It's distracting to me and everyone else, I'm sure.)